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Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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-meister

A person regarded as skilled or prominent in a specified activity.

[German Meister, master.]

The original is found in German words such as Bürgermeister, a mayor, and kapellmeister (German Kapelle, court orchestra), the leader or conductor of an orchestra or choir. Modern terms in -meister are American in origin, derived from German under the influence of Yiddish. A well-established example is schlockmeister (Yiddish shlog, wretch, untidy person), someone who sells cheap or trashy goods; a less common one is webmeister, a person who runs a World Wide Web site, a webmaster. The form is also used to make transient terms, sometimes mildly derogatory: gagmeister, pornmeister, talkmeister (a radio talk-show host).

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